Monday, July 20, 2009

Paperback 260: Stairway to Death / Bruno Fischer (Pyramid 29)

Title: Stairway to DeathAuthor: Bruno FischerCover artist: I have it labeled "Meyer" but name visible in very lower left corner is "Frederick"...

Yours for: $10

Best things about this cover:

Death has some fierce fucking heels. But also some pretty lifeless-looking legs. Coupla upside-down bowling pins with seams drawn on. I've seen sexier gams in the window of Ralphie's house in "A Christmas Story"

Well if you build stairs like that, with a vertiginous drop and stairs nowhere close to perpendicular to the wall, then yes, someone's inevitably going to die.

Best things about this back cover:

This book is like an ex-fighter who had a long, brutal career, won more than he lost, and somehow managed to survive with this brains intact. It's got a lot of wear — stains and scratches and what not — but it's absolutely tight and solid and readable. More "broken in" than "busted." I would not get into the ring with this book. To say that it has "character" or "personality" is a polite way of saying it could still kick your ass, sonny.

It's interesting to me how much Fischer is being pushed here as a recognizable name. I didn't know he ever achieved real name recognition (except among later fans and collectors of hard-boiled lit).

Why are the quotes on these books such suckfests most of the time? "Plenty of Mystery"? It's a fucking mystery, NYT? What did you expect, a History of Prussia?

DEATH liked to lurk in dorways at the bottom of badly constructed stairs. He'd wait around for a high heeled dame to come along, and then pounce.It was a badly lit cruel world, and there weren't that many employment opportunities for a guy, who by misfortune of a dyslectic clerk had a name like his.Sometimes, while waiting for his next victim, he wandered what would his life look like if his name had been the originally intended SEATH....

Man, that through-the-dame's-legs-and-down-the-sinister-staircase perspective is just WASTED on the world's least threatening lurking dude. Situation doesn't look any worse than, say, the downstairs neighbor off to the early shift at the doughnut shop.

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